In statements to Prensa Latina, Dr. Manuel Pardo, coordinator of the western province’s chapter of the National Coordinator of Solidarity with the island, highlighted the impact left by the talks and workshops led by the award-winning short story writer, who also received the Julio Cortazar Ibero-American Contest Prize in 2009 and 2023 and the Alejo Carpentier Prize in 2016.

Pardo described the meetings held by the Caribbean intellectual at the Autonomous University of Chiriqui (Unachi), his outreach in the city of flowers, Boquete, and the workshops for students at a school in the town of Bugaba as significant.

Also noteworthy, he said, was the conference entitled Eduardo Galeano and the Open Veins of Latin America, also sponsored by the Latin American Cultural Movement.

Another important moment during the artist’s stay, a native of Mayari, in the eastern province of Holguín, he added, was the exchange with authorities from the Chiriqui mayor’s office, where they discussed topics related to literature, culture, and culinary arts, among other topics.

As part of the Icaro Festival, Medina’s participation and his experiences in the filming of the biopic “Me dicen El Panzer,” dedicated to a Panamanian soccer icon, directed by Chiriqui native Rodrigo Quintero, a graduate of the San Antonio de los Banos International Film School, was also another space for admiration and love for Cuba, he emphasized.

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